SUPPLEMENT TO THE POWELL TRIBUNE • TUESDAY, JULY 21, 2020
Tag Thompson shows his steer — named BenJammin Franklin Rodriguez the 3rd Cubit — at last year’s Park County Bred and Fed show during the Park County Fair. Thompson, age 11, now has his own brand and cattle company and plans to show in this year’s sale. ‘His names are much shorter this year,’ said his mom, Maria Berchtold. Market shows take place Wednesday through Friday, culminating with the Junior Livestock Sale on Saturday. Tribune file photo by Carla Wensky
FAIR 2020 | PARK COUNTY
THE SALE WILL GO ON
4-H, FFA livestock shows continue at 2020 Park County Fair, lead up to Saturday’s Junior Livestock Sale that includes online bidding BY TESSA BAKER Tribune Features Editor
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s the year unraveled and the coronavirus pandemic upended most parts of life, it has been rare to see anything guaranteed in 2020. But months ago — at a time when most things were being canceled or postponed — local 4-H and FFA youth were assured: The Park County Junior Livestock Sale would happen in some form in 2020. “We told everybody from the get-go: I do not know how this is gonna look, but we will provide something for you, and we want you to have this learning experience,” said Joe Bridges, chairman of the Junior Livestock Sale. Youth learn lifetime skills from their projects, he said. “It's vital to give them that opportunity to have that and not just say, ‘Well, you don't get it for one year out of your life,’” Bridges said. After seeing kids grow up in 4-H and FFA and graduate, Bridges said you realize how
short of a timeframe it is for youth to get this experience. Following market shows Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, the unique 2020 fair week culminates with Saturday’s there'll be a live feed going on sale, beginning at 1 p.m. in the for them to be able to watch it and hear the auctioneer.” Sale Barn. Online buyers will be able to “The sale will happen just like it always has happened place bids when kids are in the ring with their with kids animals, so and the ani“we can take mals coming ‘That’s deep in my those bids live through,” heart, knowing that off the interBridges said. net, along with “We’ll have these kids are still those that are an auctioneer, going to be taken there personringmen, peocare of, because ally,” he said. ple sitting in A link to the stands.” that’s what kind of the online However, for the first community we live in.’ sale is available by visittime, the JuJoe Bridges ing the MM nior Livestock Junior Livestock Sale Auction webSale will have chairman site at https:// an online commmauctions. ponent, provided by MM Auction Services online/ and then clicking “current auctions.” in Powell. “That online version will be The online auction allows buygoing in conjunction with the ers to register in advance and live auction,” Bridges said. place a maximum bid once the “While the animal is in the ring, sale order is ready on Saturday.
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“Somebody can go in at any time before that sale and select the kid and put a bid in, right out of the gate, what a maximum bid can be,” Bridges said. “Nobody gets to see that — the auction service is the only one that gets to see that.” Buyers can place their bids remotely, whether it’s a faithful Park County supporter at home or a proud out-of-state grandparent. While they may be hundreds of miles apart, buyers can get in bidding wars — even if one bidder is in the Sale Barn and another is on their couch. “We could have somebody sitting in Oregon hidden away and somebody's sitting there in the stands and a bidding war happens without them not even having the slightest clue as to who it is,” Bridges said. For buyers who are uncomfortable being in the barn during the COVID-19 pandemic, the online option gives them
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the opportunity to still participate, Bridges said. “We really encourage them to just bid online wherever they feel comfortable from,” he said. Under the State of Wyoming’s public health orders, livestock sales are exempt from restrictions on the number of people who can gather. “So number wise, we’re OK that way,” Bridges said. “We would just ask people to take the precautions that they would normally take when they are out in larger crowds or in confined spaces when they're out shopping … whatever it is that they feel helps themselves, we would encourage them to follow those protocols.”
‘THE COMMUNITY IS JUST ABSOLUTELY PHENOMENAL’ Bridges has been asked how he thinks the 2020 sale is going to go or what people should expect.
“My statement always has been and will continue to be: Every time I think things are gonna go south at the sale is when we have the greatest success,” Bridges said. “And the community is just absolutely phenomenal when it comes to things like this.” He said that community includes all of Park County. “That's deep in my heart, knowing that these kids are still going to be taken care of, because that's what kind of community we live in,” Bridges said. Last year’s record-setting sale brought in $414,528 for local FFA and 4-H youth, surpassing expectations. “I don't know how many times you can sit in this position and still be wowed, but it just never ceases to amaze me,” said Bridges, who’s led the sale See Sale, Page 8